Clinical examination disk, disk pack, and clinical examination device

ABSTRACT

A clinical examination disk according to the invention includes a disk body in a disk form, and at least one cell formed in the disk body, wherein the cell comprises a specimen reservoir formed in the disk body and having a specimen injecting port, a reaction tank formed in the disk body so as to position nearer to the outer circumference of the body than a position of the specimen reservoir, and holding a reagent which is reactive with the specimen and is beforehand gelatinized, a first narrow tube formed in the disk body, and communicating to the specimen reservoir and the reaction tank, and a second narrow tube formed in the disk body, and having one end connected to the reaction tank and the other end made open.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a Continuation Application of PCT Application No.PCT/JP2009/062382, filed Jul. 7, 2009, which was published under PCTArticle 21 (2) in Japanese.

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority fromprior Japanese Patent Applications No. 2008-180668, filed Jul. 10, 2008;and No. 2008-180669, filed Jul. 10, 2008, the entire contents of both ofwhich are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a clinical examination disk, a diskpack, and a clinical examination device.

2. Description of the Related Art

In an actual clinical examination, collected blood is centrifuged with acentrifugal separator, and then blood plasma, which is a supernatant, istaken out. The taken-out blood plasma is mixed with a reagent in areaction vessel to be caused to react therewith. The fluorescencetherefrom or the absorbance thereof is measured. In such a clinicalexamination, plural instruments are used for the centrifugal separationand signal-measurement. Thus, a trained resident operator isindispensable.

Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKOKU Publication No. 55-36937 discloses a rotarycuvette type rotor for a photometer that can be operated without the aidof gravity. This photometer rotor has a structure for attainingoperations from centrifugal separation to reagent-reaction by means of asingle machine. The photometer rotor is equipped with a laminated diskhaving two transparent disks (front and rear surface side transparentdisks) and an opaque disk sandwiched between these disks.

Near the outer circumference of the laminated disk, sample-analyzingcuvettes in the form of ringed lines are made open in the opaque disk.The upper and lower surfaces of cuvettes are sealed up with thetransparent disks at the front and rear sides. At the center of thefront surface of the laminated disk is located a sample-distributingchamber sectioned by a groove made in the front surface of the opaquedisk and the front surface side transparent disk. A sample injectingport is made open at the center of the front surface side transparentdisk, and connected to the sample-distributing chamber. Thesample-distributing chamber is connected to the individual cuvettesthrough bent channels sectioned by a narrow groove made in the frontsurface of the opaque disk and the front surface side transparent disk.

At the center of the rear surface of the laminated disk is located areagent-distributing chamber sectioned by a groove made in the rearsurface of the opaque disk and the rear surface side transparent disk. Areagent injecting port is made open at the center of the rear surfaceside transparent disk, and connected to the reagent-distributingchamber. The reagent-distributing chamber is connected to the individualcuvettes through channels that are sectioned by a narrow groove made inthe rear surface of the opaque disk and the rear surface sidetransparent disk, and are linearly extended in the radial direction.

In a clinical examination of a specimen (for example, a blood) by meansof the rotor, for a photometer, having this structure, a measuringoperator puts a fixed amount of a reagent from the reagent injectingport to the reagent-distributing chamber with a pipette or some othermeans, and further puts the blood from the sample injecting port to thesample-distributing chamber. Thereafter, the rotor is rotated to sendthe reagent in the reagent-distributing chamber into thesample-analyzing cuvettes, and blood plasma separated by centrifugationfrom the blood in the sample-distributing chamber is sent into thesample-analyzing cuvettes, thereby causing the blood plasma and thereagent to react with each other in the cuvettes.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

However, in a clinical examination of a specimen, such as blood, withthe rotary cuvette type rotor, for a photometer, described in Jpn. Pat.Appln. KOKOKU Publication No. 55-36937, the reagent-distributing chamberis connected to the sample-analyzing cuvettes through the channelsextended linearly in the radial direction; it is therefore difficult forthe reagent supplied into the distributing chamber by centrifugal forcewhen the rotor is rotated to be distributed evenly into the individualcuvettes with a desired precision. As a result, the reagent amount whichis to react with blood plasma varies between the individual cuvettes.Thus, the analysis precision of a blood component such as glucose in theblood plasma falls.

Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKOKU Publication No. 55-36937 also states that inorder to cause different reagents between the individual cuvettes toreact, in the cuvettes, with blood plasma separated by centrifugation,the different reagents are beforehand put into the individualsample-analyzing cuvettes and then the reagents are freeze-dried. Thedocument states that the thus-freeze-dried reagents are made intoindividual solutions by distributing water or buffer liquid suppliedinto the reagent-distributing chamber into the individual cuvettes in amanner equivalent to the above-mentioned manner of distributing thereagent.

However, when the water or buffer liquid is distributed from thereagent-distributing chamber into the individual cuvettes, it isdifficult, in the same manner as when the reagent is distributed, forthe water or buffer liquid to be evenly distributed into the individualcuvettes with a desired precision. As a result, even when a desiredamount of the reagent is beforehand put into each of the cuvettes andthe reagent is freeze-dried, the distribution amount of the water orbuffer liquid, for making the freeze-dried reagent into the solutions,varies so that the reagent concentrations between the individualcuvettes are different from each other. Accordingly, the analysisprecision of a blood component such as glucose in blood plasma fallsbecause of the variation in the reagent concentration between theindividual cuvettes.

An object of the present invention is to provide a clinical examinationdisk capable of causing a specimen, such as blood plasma separated bycentrifugation from a blood, to react, in a reaction tank, with areagent held therein with a desired precision.

Another object of the invention is to provide a disk pack capable ofholding stably a gel-form reagent held beforehand in a reaction tank ofa clinical examination disk.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a clinicalexamination device capable of maintaining the air-tightness of theinside of a space (chamber) wherein the above-mentioned clinicalexamination disk is arranged, and further attaining the control of thetemperature of the device with a high precision.

According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided aclinical examination disk, comprising a disk body in a disk form, and atleast one cell formed in the disk body,

wherein the cell comprises:

a specimen reservoir formed in the disk body and having a specimeninjecting port;

a reaction tank formed in the disk body so as to position nearer to theouter circumference of the body than the specimen reservoir, and holdinga reagent which is reactive with the specimen and is beforehandgelatinized;

a first narrow tube formed in the disk body, and communicating to thespecimen reservoir and the reaction tank; and

a second narrow tube formed in the disk body, and having one endconnected to the reaction tank and the other end made open.

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a diskpack, comprising a moisture-proof bag, the clinical examination diskthat is air-tightly held in the bag, and a moisture-adjusting agentheld, together with the clinical examination disk, in the bag.

According to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided aclinical examination device, comprising:

an outer packaging member;

a case arranged in the outer packaging member and having a chamberinside the case;

a linearly-acting unit comprising a base plate arranged in the chamberof the case to be vertically movable;

a passage hole made open a portion which is extended from an upsideportion of a side wall of the case to a side wall of the outer packagingmember;

a tray which is capable of putting into the chamber through the passagehole and taking out the chamber through the passage hole, and having acircular concave onto which a clinical examination disk as describedabove is placed; and

a rotating unit fixed to the linearly-acting unit to cause the disk tobe rotated,

wherein the tray comprises a ringed hole made open in a ringed regionaround the outer circumference of the circular concave, and a ringedpacking fixed to the ringed hole to be vertically movable,

the base plate comprises, on an upper surface thereof, a pushing-upmember to push up the ringed packing, and

a thin-film heater unit is formed on at least one of the inner surfaceof an upper wall of the case and a lower surface of the tray.

According to the invention, it is possible to provide a clinicalexamination disk capable of analyzing a specimen, for example, a bloodcomponent, such as blood glucose, with a high precision.

According to the invention, it is possible to provide a disk packcapable of holding stably a gel-form reagent held beforehand in areaction tank of a clinical examination disk.

According to the invention, it is possible to provide a clinicalexamination device that enables precise control over the temperature ofreaction between a specimen (for example, blood plasma separated bycentrifugation from a blood) and a reagent in a cell of theabove-mentioned clinical examination disk which is rotated at a highspeed, as well as even liquification of a gelatinized reagent in areservoir formed in the cell of the disk, before the reaction, thusmaking it possible to attain a blood examination high inreproducibility.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a plan view illustrating a clinical examination disk accordingto an embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a view illustrating a cell in FIG. 1 in an enlarged state;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating an examination device usingfluorescence;

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a positional relationship betweenindividual photo-interrupters and a point where excited light isradiated when the disk in FIG. 1 is set to the examination device;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged plan view illustrating a cell of a differentclinical examination disk according to the embodiment;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged plan view illustrating a cell of a differentclinical examination disk according to the embodiment;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged plan view illustrating a cell of a differentclinical examination disk according to the embodiment;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged plan view illustrating a cell of a differentclinical examination disk according to the embodiment;

FIG. 9 is an enlarged plan view illustrating a cell of a differentclinical examination disk according to the embodiment;

FIG. 10 is an enlarged plan view illustrating a cell of a differentclinical examination disk according to the embodiment;

FIG. 11 is a view illustrating a cell of a different clinicalexamination disk according to the embodiment in an enlarged state;

FIG. 12 is a view showing the effect (of the cell) in FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a sectional view of a cell of a different clinicalexamination disk according to the embodiment;

FIG. 14 is a rear view of a cell of a clinical examination diskaccording to the embodiment;

FIG. 15 is a rear view of a cell of a different clinical examinationdisk according to the embodiment;

FIG. 16 is an exploded perspective view of a different clinicalexamination disk according to the embodiment;

FIG. 17 is a view illustrating the cell in FIG. 16 in an enlarged state;

FIG. 18 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a disk packageaccording to the embodiment;

FIG. 19 is a schematic perspective view of a clinical examination deviceaccording to the embodiment;

FIG. 20 is a sectional view of the clinical examination device in FIG.19;

FIG. 21 is a sectional view of a main portion of the clinicalexamination device in FIG. 19;

FIG. 22 is a sectional view referred to in order to describe theoperation of the clinical examination device in FIG. 19; and

FIG. 23 is a sectional view referred to in order to describe theoperation of the clinical examination device in FIG. 19.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference to some of the drawings, a clinical examination disk anda disk pack according to an embodiment of the invention will bedescribed in detail hereinafter.

FIG. 1 is a plan view illustrating the clinical examination diskaccording to the embodiment. FIG. 2A is an enlarged plan viewillustrating one of the cells in FIG. 1, FIG. 2B is a sectional viewthereof taken along line B-B in FIG. 2A, and FIG. 2C is a sectional viewthereof taken along line C-C in FIG. 2A.

The clinical examination disk 1 includes a disk body 2 in a disk form.In the disk body 2, for example, two cells (a specimen examining cell 3and a calibrating cell 4) are formed centrosymmetrically with respect tothe center thereof. As illustrated in FIG. 2B and 2C, the specimenexamining cell 3 is composed of the disk body 2, and rectangular, frontand rear side window plates 5 and 6 which have the same size and areadhered to the front and rear surfaces of the disk body 2, respectively,so as to be opposed to each other. The window plates 5 and 6 are eachmade of a transparent or semitransparent synthetic resin. The processfor adhering (i.e., attaching and bonding) the window plates 5 and 6 maybe, for example, bonding with a UV adhesive, bonding with a solvent,melt-bonding by heat (with a heater), ultrasonic melt-bonding, or lasermelt-bonding. The adhering process is in particular suitably lasermelt-bonding. A rectangular specimen reservoir 7 is formed by sealing upa rectangular through hole 8 made open in the disk body 2 with the frontand rear side window plates 5 and 6. A specimen injecting port 9 is madeopen in a portion of the front side window plate 5 that corresponds tothe rectangular through hole 8. A circular reaction tank 10 is formed bysealing up, with the front and rear side window plates 4 and 5, acircular through hole 11 made open in the disk body 2 and positionednearer to the outer circumference of the disk body 2 than a position ofthe specimen reservoir 7. The reaction tank 10 holds therein agelatinized reagent beforehand.

When a specimen (for example, a blood) is used and the blood iscentrifuged into a supernatant (blood plasma) and blood cells in thespecimen reservoir 7, one end of a first narrow tube 12 is connected toa region of the specimen reservoir 7 where the supernatant is retained,and the other end thereof is connected to the reaction tank 10. In otherwords, the first narrow tube 12 functions as a channel for introducingthe blood plasma in the specimen reservoir 7 into the reaction tank 10.This first narrow tube 12 is formed by covering, with the front surfaceside window plate 5, a groove 13 worked in the front surface of the diskbody 2 and positioned between the rectangular through hole 8 and thecircular through hole 11. With regard to a second narrow tube 14, oneend thereof is connected to the reaction tank 10 while the other endthereof is made open. In other words, when a separated material (forexample, blood plasma in the blood) from the specimen centrifuged in thespecimen reservoir 7 is introduced into the reaction tank 10, the secondnarrow tube 14 functions as a channel for causing the air in thereaction tank 10 to escape to the outside. This second narrow tube 14 isformed by covering, with the front surface side window plate 5, most ofa groove 15 made in the front surface of the disk body 2 so as toposition from the circular through hole 11 toward the outside of thefront surface side window plate 5.

In the same manner as the specimen examining cell 3, the calibratingcell 4 includes a reservoir 7 having a specimen injecting port 9, areaction tank 10 wherein a gelatinized reagent is beforehand held, andfirst and second narrow tubes 12 and 14. A gelatinized calibratingstandard sample is previously held in the reservoir 7 of the calibratingcell 4. When the temperature of the sample is returned to roomtemperature, the sample is liquefied. The calibrating standard samplehas, for example, a composition containing a buffer liquid for making apH constant, a measurement target substance, a fixed amount of which isdissolved in this buffer liquid, and rabbit blood plasma added to thebuffer liquid in order to cause the contact angle to approach thecontact angle of the blood plasma in the blood, which is theabove-mentioned specimen.

A supporting hole 16 is made open at the center of the disk body 2. Arotating axis of a disk rotating motor is inserted into the hole. Arotation-number-detecting hole 17 is made open, for example, in thevicinity of the outer circumferential edge of the disk body 2 that is inthe form on a straight line with which the center of the supporting hole16 is jointed to the center of the reaction tank 10 of the specimenexamining cell 3. Timing detecting holes 18 ₁ and 18 ₂, the number ofwhich is two corresponding to the number of the cells 3 and 4, are madeopen so as to position at the periphery of the disk body 2 but nearer tothe disk center than a position of the rotation-number-detecting hole17, and so as to have an angle of 180° therebetween. The timingdetecting holes 18 ₁ and 18 ₂ are each positioned to make a desiredangle to the rotation-number-detecting hole 17, and are furtherpositioned asymmetrically with respect to the hole 17. The positionswhere the timing detecting holes 18 ₁ and 18 ₂ are made open in the diskbody 2 are decided in accordance with a positional relationship betweenthe following points when the disk is set to a fluorescence-usedexamination device that will be described later: a radiation point wherefrom a light emitting element of its timing-detecting photo-interrupter,light is radiated to the disk; and an excited-light radiation pointwhere from its excited-light-radiating unit, excited light is radiatedto the disk. One of the timing detecting holes, that is, the hole 18 ₁is used to decide the timing of excited light radiation to the reactiontank 10 of the specimen examining cell 3. The other timing detectingholes 18 ₂ is used to decide the timing of excited light radiation tothe reaction tank 10 of the calibrating cell 4.

The disk body 2 has, for example, the following dimensions: a thicknessof 1 mm, and a diameter of 120 mm. The disk body 2 is formed byinjection-molding a synthetic resin such as black polyethylene,polypropylene, polystyrene, ABS, acrylic resin, polycarbonate,cycloolefin, or POM.

Examples of the transparent or semitransparent synthetic resin used inthe front and rear surface side window plates 5 and 6 includepolyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene, polypropylene,polystyrene, ABC, polyacrylic acid, polycarbonate, and polycycloolefin.

Each of the gelatinized reagents can be prepared by pre-holding asolution (sol), which is prepared by adding a gelatinizer to a reagent,into one of the reaction tanks 10 beforehand, and then refrigerating andstoring the clinical examination disk 1 to gelatinize the solution. Whenthe gelatinized reagent is refrigerated at, for example, 10° C. orlower, the reagent is gelatinized so that the fluidity thereof is lost.Thus, the gelatinized reagent does not leak out from the reaction tank10 by vibration when the disk 1 is carried. However, when thetemperature of the gelatinized reagent in the reaction tank 10 turns to20° C. or higher, the reagent is liquefied so that the fluidity thereofis expressed. The liquefied reagent can be mixed with a specimen andcaused to react therewith in the same manner as an ordinary liquidreagent.

Examples of the gelatinizer include gelatin, sodium alginate,carrageenan, and pectin. These gelatinizers may be used single or in theform of a mixture of two or more thereof. It is preferred to add thegelatinizer in such an amount that the gelatinized reagent can beliquefied at a temperature of 20° C. or higher. In the case of gelatin,the addition amount thereof is preferably about 1% by weight.

The following will describe the effect of the clinical examination diskaccording to the embodiment with reference to some of the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating an examination device usingfluorescence, and FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a positionalrelationship between a rotation-number-detecting photo-interrupter, atiming-detecting photo-interrupter, and a point where excited light isradiated from an excited-light-radiating unit when the disk in FIG. 1 isset to the examination device.

The examination device includes a rotationally driving mechanism 51which supports the disk 1 to be attachable to the mechanism anddetachable therefrom, and causes the disk 1 to be rotated. Therotationally driving mechanism 51 is composed of a disk driving motor 53having a driving axis 52 which is extended vertically and is rotatablein a clockwise direction, and a supporting disk 54 through which thisdriving axis 52 is penetrated and inserted and to which the axis 52 isfixed. In the rotatably driving mechanism 51 having this structure, thedisk 1 is put onto the supporting disk 54 in the state that a taking-outhole 16 therein is fitted onto the driving axis 52. A clamper (notillustrated) is engaged with the driving axis 52 projected from the disk1, and the disk is sandwiched between the supporting disk 54 and theclamper, so as to be fixed.

An excited-light-radiating unit 55 is arranged in the vicinity of thesupporting disk 54 of the rotatably driving mechanism 51. Theexcited-light-radiating unit 55 is composed of an exciting light source(for example, an N₂ laser instrument) 56, and an optical element (forexample, a mirror) 57 for introducing laser light emitted out from thisN₂ laser instrument 56 to reactants in the reaction tanks 10 in thecells 3 and 4 of the disk 1.

A pair of fluorescence receiving units 58 a and 58 b are arranged aroundthe supporting disk 54 to make a desired interval angle to theexcited-light-radiating unit 55 in the clockwise direction from the unit55, respectively. The fluorescence receiving units 58 a and 58 b receivefluorescence emitted when excited light is radiated to the reactant inany one of the reaction tanks 10 of the disk 1, respectively, and thenoutput an electric signal in accordance with the received light amount.The paired fluorescence receiving units 58 a and 58 b are arranged insuch a manner that when the disk 1 is set onto the supporting disk 54,the units 58 a and 58 b are positioned over and under the disk 1,respectively, so that the disk 1 is sandwiched therebetween. One of thefluorescence receiving units, that is, the unit 58 a (at the upper side)is composed of an optical element (for example, a relay lens) 59 a forreceiving fluorescence emitted from a reactant in any one of thereaction tanks 10 of the disk 1, an interfering filter 60 a, and aphotoelectron multiplier tube 61 a, these members 59 a, 60 a and 61 abeing arranged successively upward from the vicinity of the disk 1. Theother of the fluorescence receiving units, that is, the unit 58 b (atthe lower side) is composed of an optical element (for example, a relaylens) 59 b for receiving fluorescence emitted from a reactant in any oneof the reaction tanks 10 of the disk 1, an interfering filter 60 b, anda photoelectron multiplier tube 61 b, these members 59 b, 60 b and 61 bbeing arranged successively downward from the vicinity of the disk 1.

A disk-rotation-number-detecting photo-interrupter 62 counts therotation number of the disk 1. The photo-interrupter 62 is arrangedaround the supporting disk 54 to make a desired interval angle to eachof the fluorescence receiving unit 58 a and 58 b in the clockwisedirection from the unit. The photo-interrupter 62 is composed of a lightemitting element 63 arranged over the disk 1, and a light receivingelement 64 arranged under the disk 1. In this photo-interrupter 62,light from the light emitting element 63 is radiated downward. When therotation-number-detecting hole 17 in the disk 1 which is being rotatedis passed just under the light emitting element 63 and then the lightfrom the element 63 is radiated through the rotation-number-detectinghole 17 into the light receiving element 64, a pulse signal is outputfrom the light receiving element 64.

The timing-detecting photo-interrupter 65 controls the timing ofradiating excited light from the excited-light-radiating unit 55 intothe reaction tank 10 of any one of the cells 3 and 4 of the disk 1. Thephoto-interrupter 65 is arranged around the supporting disk 54 to make adesired interval angle to the disk-rotation-number-detectingphoto-interrupter 62 in the clockwise direction from thephoto-interrupter 62. The photo-interrupter 65 is composed of a lightemitting element 66 arranged over the disk 1 and a light receivingelement 67 arranged under the disk 1. In this photo-interrupter 65,light from the light emitting element 66 is radiated downward. When thetiming-detecting hole 18 ₁ (or 18 ₂) in the disk 1 which is beingrotated is passed just under the light emitting element 66 and then thelight from the element 66 is radiated through the timing-detecting hole18 ₁ (or 18 ₂) into the light receiving element 67, a pulse signal isoutput from the light receiving element 67. When this pulse signal isoutput into the excited-light-radiating unit 55, laser light (excitedlight) is emitted from the N₂ laser instrument 56 thereof. The emittedexcited light is radiated through the optical element 57 into thereaction tank 10 of the specimen examining cell 3 (or the calibratingcell 4) of the disk 1. When the pulse signal is output into theexcited-light-radiating unit 55, a time lag is applied to the signal,thereby performing timing-adjustment.

In a clinical examination (for example, a blood examination), thetemperature of the refrigerated and stored disk 1 is first returned toroom temperature.

At this time, the gelatinized reagents held beforehand in the respectivereaction tanks 10 of the specimen examining cell 3 and the calibratingcell 4, and the gelatinized calibrating standard sample held beforehandin the reservoir 7 of the calibrating cell 4 are each liquefied. Theused reagents are two antibodies each labeled with a colorant. A desiredamount of a specimen (for example, a blood) is injected through thespecimen injecting port 9 into the specimen reservoir 7 of the specimenexamining cell 3.

Next, the supporting hole 16 at the center of the disk 1 is fitted ontothe driving axis 52 of the rotatably driving mechanism 51, as describedabove. At this time, the disk 1 is put on the supporting disk 54 and isfurther caught together with the supporting disk 54 with the clamper(not illustrated), so as to be fixed. When the motor 53 of the rotatablydriving mechanism 51 is driven to rotate the driving axis 52 thereof ina clockwise direction, the supporting disk 54 and the disk 1 fixed withthe clamper are rotated at a speed of, for example, 10000 rpm. At thistime, the blood injected in the specimen reservoir 7 of the specimenexamining cell 3 is centrifuged so that the blood is separated intoblood cells at the disk 1 outer circumferential side of the specimenreservoir 7 and a supernatant (blood plasma) at the disk 1 central sideof the specimen reservoir 7. In the centrifugation, a centrifugal forcelarger than the capillary force of the first narrow tube 12 connected tothe specimen reservoir 7 is applied to the blood in the specimenreservoir 7. For this reason, it does not occur that the blood which isbeing centrifuged in the reservoir 7 is sent through the first narrowtube 12 into the reaction tank 10. When a brake is applied for stoppingthe driving of the motor 53 to lower the rotation number of the disk 1gradually, the capillary force of the first narrow tube 12 exceeds thecentrifugal force. Thus, by the capillary force, the blood plasmaseparated by the centrifugation in the reservoir 7 is passed from amiddle position of the reservoir 7 in the longitudinal direction thereofinto the reaction tank 10 through the first narrow tube 12 positioned atthe periphery of the disk 1. At the same time, the air in the reactiontank 10 is discharged through the second narrow tube 14 to the outsideof the cell 3. Since inertia acts in addition to the capillary forcebased on the braking effect, the reagent liquefied in the reaction tank10, and the blood plasma are mixed with each other. By making thereaction tank 10, in particular, into a column form, the mixing of theliquefied reagent and the blood plasma is smoothly and evenly attained.When a reagent through which fluorescence is measured is used, themixture is then incubated at a constant temperature of 40° C. or higherfor a given period.

In the calibrating cell 4 also, at the time of rotating the disk 1 at ahigh speed and then braking the disk 1, the calibrating standard sampleliquefied is sent from the reservoir 7 through the first narrow tube 12into the reaction tank 10 so as to be mixed with the liquefied reagent.Furthermore, the mixture is incubated for a given period.

After such incubation, the motor 53 of the rotatably driving mechanism51 is again driven to rotate the disk 1 at a speed of, for example,10000 rpm. At this time, in the disk-rotation-number-detectingphoto-interrupter 62, light is radiated downward from the light emittingelement 63, and the rotation-number-detecting hole 17 in the diskrotated in a clockwise direction is passed just below the light emittingelement 63 so that the light is radiated through therotation-number-detecting hole 17 into the light receiving element 64.In the light radiation into the light receiving element 64, the disk 1is rotated at a speed of 10000 rpm; thus, a pulse signal is output fromthe light receiving element 64 once every six milliseconds. After thepulse signal is output from the light receiving element 64, thetiming-detecting hole 18 ₂ in the disk 1 rotated in the clockwisedirection is passed just below the light emitting element 66, whichradiates light, and the light is radiated through the timing-detectinghole 18 ₂ into the light receiving element 67; at this time, in thetiming-detecting photo-interrupter 65, a pulse signal is output from thelight receiving element 67. Furthermore, when the timing-detecting hole18 ₁ in the disk 1 rotated is passed just below the light emittingelement 66 and light therefrom is radiated through the timing-detectinghole 18 ₁ into the light receiving element 67, a pulse signal is outputfrom the light receiving element 67. The pulse signal output from thelight receiving element 67, which follows the former penetration of thelight through the timing-detecting hole 18 ₂, is ignored, and the pulsesignal output from the light receiving element 67, which follows thelatter penetration of the light through the timing-detecting hole 18 ₁,is input into the excited-light-radiating unit 55. At the time of theinput of the pulse signal into the excited-light-radiating unit 55,laser light (excited light) emitted from the N₂ laser instrument 56thereof is radiated through the optical element 57 into the reactiontank 10 of the specimen detecting cell 3 of the disk 1. The reactanttherein is excited to emit fluorescence. At this time, the timingdetecting hole 18 ₁ and the reaction tank 10 of the cell 3, whichcorresponds to this timing-detecting hole 18 ₁, have a positionalrelationship illustrated in FIG. 4. Specifically, the angle a made bytwo lines obtained at the time of jointing the timing-detecting hole 18₁, the center of the fitting hole 16 (driving axis 52) in the disk 1,and the center of the reaction tank 10 of the cell 3 is, for example, 6°smaller than the angle β made by two lines obtained at the time ofjointing a position where light is radiated from the light emittingelement 66 of the timing-detecting photo-interrupter 65 onto the disk 1,the center of the fitting hole 16 in the disk 1, and a point P where theexcited light is radiated from the excited-light-radiating unit 55 tothe disk 1. Thus, when the disk 1 is rotated by 6° from the time of thepulse-signal-output from the light receiving element 67, which followsthe latter penetration of the light through the timing-detecting hole 18₁, the reaction tank 10 reaches the excited-light-radiated point P. Thetime required for the rotation of the disk 1 by 6° is 100 microseconds.When the motor 53 used for the rotation of the disk 1 is a brushless DCmotor, wow flutter, which is unevenness in rotation, is generated at aratio of about 1 to 4%. In this case, the rotation evenness while themotor is rotated for 100 microseconds corresponds to 1 microsecond. Whenthis is converted into the shift distance of the reaction tank 10 of thecell 3, the distance is 40 μm. When the reaction tank 10 has a diameterof, for example, 8 mm, an accidental error of 40 μm is allowable.Accordingly, the effect of the wow flutter of the motor 53 is reduced sothat after the output of the pulse signal from the light receivingelement 67, which follows the penetration of the light through thetiming-detecting hole 18 ₁, a remarkable improvement can be made in theprecision of radiating the excited light from theexcited-light-radiating unit 55 into the reaction tank 10 of thespecimen detecting cell 3 of the disk 1.

After the radiation of the excited light into the reaction tank 10, andthe fluorescence emission therefrom, intensities of two fluorescencespecies are each measured in a usual manner by means of the pairedfluorescence receiving units 58 a and 58 b, which are positioned in theclockwise direction from the excited-light-radiated point P. Moreover,the following are attained: the radiation of excited light into thereaction tank 10 of the calibrating cell 4; the emission of twofluorescence species from the reactant in the reaction tank 10; and themeasurement of the intensities of the two fluorescence species in thepaired fluorescence receiving units 58 a and 58 b. When the fluorescenceintensities measured in the reaction tank 10 of the specimen examiningcell 3 are compared with standard values measured in the reaction tank10 of the calibrating cell 4, for example, the concentration of thetarget substance in the blood plasma is examined.

The two timing-detecting holes 18 ₁ and 18 ₂ may be made open in thedisk body 2 asymmetrically with respect to thedisk-rotation-number-detecting hole 17. In other words, the positionalrelationship between the disk-rotation-number-detecting hole 17 and thetiming-detecting holes 18 ₁ and 18 ₂ may be varied at the front and rearsides of the disk 1. According to this structure, from the timedifference between the pulse-signal-output following the penetration oflight through the disk-rotation-number-detecting hole 17 in thedisk-rotation-number-detecting photo-interrupter 62 and that followingthe penetration of light through the timing-detecting hole 18 ₂ in thetiming-detecting photo-interrupter 65, it can be detected whether thedisk 1 is set to direct the front side thereof upward, or direct therear side thereof upward. As a result, it can be decided whether thedisk 1 is put onto the supporting disk 54 in a regular state or in anirregular state. In short, it is possible to prevent the disk from beingset in error.

As described above, with regard to the clinical examination diskaccording to the embodiment, the gelatinized reagent is beforehand heldin a fixed amount in the reaction tank of each of the cells; therefore,the reagent can be liquefied by exposing the disk to room temperaturebefore an examination. In this state, a specimen (for example, a blood)is put into the specimen reservoir and then the above-mentionedexamination device is used to rotate the disk to centrifuge the blood inthe specimen reservoir, whereby at the time of sending the blood plasmaseparated by the centrifugation through the first narrow tube to thereaction tank, the blood plasma can be caused to react with the reagent,which has the above-mentioned target amount. Accordingly, by radiatingexcited light as described above into the reaction tank after thereaction and measuring fluorescence emitted from the reaction tank, theconcentration of a specified component in the specimen (for example, theblood) can be measured with a high precision.

Each of the cells of the disk according to the embodiment has astructure wherein the second narrow tube is connected to the reactiontank, and an end of the second narrow tube is extended to the disk bodyoutside the cell. In the cell having this structure, a specimencentrifuged in the specimen reservoir is sent through the first narrowtube into the reaction tank. At this time, the air in the reaction tankcan be discharged through the second narrow tube to the outside of thecell. Thus, the centrifuged specimen can be smoothly and stably sentinto the reaction tank.

With regard to the clinical examination disk according to theembodiment, the disk form thereof can be varied as describedhereinafter.

(1) As illustrated in FIG. 5, the cell 3 may further include, in thedisk body 2 thereof, a first overflow tank 21 formed so as to positionnearer to the outer circumference of the disk body 2 than the specimenreservoir 7, and a third narrow tube 22 branched from the first narrowtube 12 and having a tip connected to the first overflow tank 21.

In the cell 3 having this structure, a specimen (for example, a blood)is injected through the specimen injecting port 9 into the specimenreservoir 7. The blood plasma in the reservoir 7 after a centrifugationas described above is sent through the first narrow tube 12 into thereaction tank 10. In a case where the blood plasma is sent in anexcessive amount into the reaction tank 10 at this time so that thereaction tank 10 overflows therewith, the blood plasma can be sent fromthe first narrow tube 12 through the branched third narrow tube 22 intothe first overflow tank 21. As a result, the amount of the blood plasmainto the reaction tank 10 can be made constant.

When a gelatinized reagent is beforehand held also in the first overflowtank 21, the overflow tank 21 can be used as a second reaction tank.Thus, another item of the specimen can be measured. In the case ofmaking a measurement in a wide dynamic range, the measurement in thewide dynamic range can be attained by varying the diluting ratio (of aspecimen).

(2) A cell 3 illustrated in FIG. 6 has a structure wherein a buffer tank23 and an air trap 24 are further formed in a disk body 2 between aspecimen reservoir 7 and a reaction tank 10, so as to arrange in thisorder from the vicinity of the specimen reservoir 7. A first narrow tube12 is connected from the specimen reservoir 7 through the buffer tank 23and the air trap 24 into the reaction tank 10. A fourth narrow tube 25is formed in such a manner that one end thereof is connected to thebuffer tank 23 in the disk body 2 and further the other end is madeopen. The buffer tank 23 and the air trap 24 can be formed by making athrough hole in the disk body 2, respectively, and then sealing thethrough hole with window plates as described above, which are adheredonto the front and rear surfaces of the disk body 2.

In the cell 3 having this structure, a specimen (for example, a blood)is injected through a specimen injection port 9 into the specimenreservoir 7, and the disk is rotated at a high speed as described above.In this way, the blood is centrifuged into blood cells and blood plasmain the reservoir 7. When the rotated disk is braked to decrease therotation number thereof, the blood plasma in the reservoir 7 is sentthrough the first narrow tube 12 into the buffer tank 23 by capillaryforce of the first narrow tube 12. At this time, the air in the buffertank 23 is discharged through the fourth narrow tube 25 to the outsideof the disk. When the rotation number of the disk 1 is again raised, theblood plasma in the buffer tank 23 is sent through the first narrow tube12 and the air trap tank 24 by centrifugal force into the reaction tank10. In other words, in accordance with the timing of the promotion ofthe rotation of the disk, the timing of sending the blood plasma intothe reaction tank 10 and that of mixing the blood plasma with a reagentin the reaction tank 10 can be controlled. When the centrifugal force islost, the air in the air trap tank 24 is inflated so as to produce avalve effect of blocking the liquid flow in the first narrow tube 12with the air. It is therefore possible to prevent an excessive inflow ofthe blood plasma into the reaction tank 10, and the outflow of thereactant from the reaction tank 10. Such a cell structure is suitablefor a reagent for which the reagent reaction time thereof is strictlymanaged. When the blood plasma is pushed from the buffer tank 23 intoreaction tank 10, the air trap tank 24 acts to trap the air present inthe reaction tank 10 to lower the resistance caused when the bloodplasma is sent into the reaction tank 10. By arranging the buffer tank23 inside the cell 3, the reactant in the reaction tank 10 can be keptin a wet state.

(3) In the embodiment, the reagent to which the fixed amount of thegelatinizer is added is directly held in the reaction tank 10 of thecell 3 in advance, and the disk is put into a refrigerator to gelatinizethe reagent in the reaction tank 10, and stored. As illustrated in, forexample, FIG. 7, a different configuration wherein a gelatinized reagentis held in a reaction tank in advance can be realized by forming areagent reservoir 27 having an injecting port 26 in a disk body 2 regionpositioned at a second narrow tube 14. In a cell 3 having this reagentreservoir 27, a fixed amount of a reagent to which a gelatinizer isadded is put from the injecting port 26 into the reagent reservoir 27.The disk is then rotated at a high speed so that the reagent in thereagent reservoir 27 is sent through the second narrow tube 14 into thereaction tank 10 by centrifugal force. Thereafter, the disk is put intoa refrigerator to gelatinize the reagent in the reaction tank 10, andthen the disk is stored. The reagent reservoir 27 is formed by making athrough hole in the disk body 2 and then sealing up the through holewith window plates as described above, which are adhered onto the frontand rear surfaces of the disk body 2.

In the cell structure illustrated in FIG. 5, the reagent reservoir 27having the above-mentioned function may be formed in the disk body 2region positioned at the second narrow tube 14, as illustrated in FIG.8. In the cell structure illustrated in FIG. 6, the reagent reservoir 27having the above-mentioned function may be formed in the disk body 2region positioned at the fourth narrow tube 25, as illustrated in FIG.9.

(4) A cell 3 in FIG. 10 has a structure in which in the cell structureillustrated in FIG. 7, a second overflow tank 28 is further formed fromthe specimen reservoir 7 as a starting point so as to be adjacent to thespecimen reservoir 7 along the circumferential direction of the diskbody 2. The second overflow tank 28 is connected through a fifth narrowtube 29 to the specimen reservoir 7. The fifth narrow tube 29 isconnected to a position of the specimen reservoir 7 which is nearer tothe center of the disk body 2 than the connection position of the firstnarrow tube 12 connected to the specimen reservoir 7 to the center. Withregard to a sixth narrow tube 30, one end thereof is extended to thesecond overflow tank 28, and the other end is extended to the disk body2 outside the cell 3.

According to the cell 3 illustrated in FIG. 10, at the time of injectinga fixed amount of a specimen (for example, a blood) from the injectingport 9 into the specimen reservoir 7 and then rotating the disk at ahigh speed, the blood injected in the specimen reservoir 7 iscentrifuged into a blood cell at the disk 1 outer circumferential sideof the specimen reservoir 7 and a supernatant (blood plasma) at the disk1 central side of the specimen reservoir 7. When a brake is applied forstopping the rotation of the disk 1 to decrease the rotation number ofthe disk gradually, the blood plasma separated by the centrifugation inthe specimen reservoir 7 is sent from a middle position of the reservoir7 in the longitudinal direction thereof into the reaction tank 10through the first narrow tube 12 positioned at the outer circumferentialside of the disk by capillary force thereof. Simultaneously, the bloodcell separated by the centrifugation is sent from a middle position ofthe reservoir 7 in the longitudinal direction thereof into the secondoverflow tank 28 through the fifth narrow tube 29 positioned at theouter circumferential side of the disk by capillary force thereof. Atthis time, the air in the second overflow tank 28 is discharged throughthe sixth narrow tube 30 to the outside of the cell 3; thus, the bloodcell separated by the centrifugation is smoothly sent into the secondoverflow tank 28.

Accordingly, when the second overflow tank 28 is connected to thespecimen reservoir 7 through the fifth narrow tube 29 with thepredetermined positional relationship, the blood plasma separated in thespecimen reservoir 7 can be sent into the reaction tank 10 in a targetfixed amount.

(5) As illustrated in FIGS. 11A, 11B, 12A and 12B, a specimen examiningcell 3 may be made into a structure wherein a specimen injecting port 9in a specimen reservoir 7 of the cell 3 can be made open and closed.FIG. 11A is a plan view of the specimen examining cell 3, FIG. 11B is asectional view thereof taken along line B-B in FIG. 11A, FIG. 12A is aplan view of the specimen examining cell 3, and FIG. 12B is a sectionalview thereof taken along line B-B in FIG. 12A.

In a case where the specimen injecting port 9 in the clinicalexamination disk is kept open while the disk is rotated at a high speed,water in the cell 3 may evaporate. As illustrated in FIGS. 11A and 11B,a peeling mount 31 is arranged on a front surface side window plate 5 tocover a substantial half of a specimen reservoir 7 containing thespecimen injecting port 9. An adhesive tape 32 is bonded onto an areaextending from a region of the peeling mount 31 that is opposite to thespecimen injecting port 9 to a front surface side window plate 5 of aregion above the reservoir 7. In this structure, the peeling mount 31can be inclined and moved (opened and closed) by aid of the adhesivetape 32. Thus, the specimen injecting port 9 can be covered with thepeeling mount 31, and uncovered therewith. In order to inject a specimeninto the specimen reservoir 7, the peeling mount 31 is moved to beinclined at 180° around the bonding point of the adhesive tape 29,thereby making the specimen injecting port 9 open. Subsequently to theinjection of the specimen, as illustrated in FIGS. 12A and 12B, thepeeling mount 31 is peeled from the adhesive tape 32 and then theadhesive tape 32 is bonded onto the front surface side window plate 5 insuch a manner that the specimen injecting port 9 is closed with theadhesive tape 32. In this way, the specimen injecting port 9 is closedso as to make it possible to prevent the evaporation of water in thecell 3 composed of the reservoir 7, the reaction tank 9, and first andsecond narrow tubes 12 and 14. When a reagent for measuring fluorescenceis used, the adhesive tape 32 is preferably an aluminum-evaporated tapeor a tape having a black resin substrate.

This structure, wherein the specimen injecting port 9 in the specimenreservoir 7 can be made open and closed, may be applied to each of thecells illustrated in FIGS. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10.

The injecting port 26 in the reagent reservoir 27 in each of FIGS. 7, 8,9 and 10, which has been described in the items (3) and (4), may be madeinto a structure as illustrated in FIGS. 11A and 11B, wherein the portcan be opened and closed.

(6) As illustrated in FIG. 13, circular ribs 33 and 34 are formed on thefront and rear surface of a disk body 2, respectively, and around acircular through hole 10, so that the precision of the melt-bonding offront and rear side window plates 5 and 6 onto the disk body 2 isimproved. In this way, a reaction tank having a fixed volume can beformed.

Specifically, in the clinical examination disk 1 according to theembodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, a fixed amount of a gelatinizedreagent is stored in the reaction tank 10, which is formed to have afixed volume. By rotation at a high speed and centrifugation asdescribed above, blood plasma is sent from the specimen reservoir 7through the first narrow tube 12 into the reaction tank 10. The volumeof the sent blood plasma is a value obtained by subtracting the volumeof the reagent from the volume of the reaction tank 10. Fractionalinjections of the gelatinized reagent into the predetermined amount canbe realized by a precise means such as a liquid-sending pump or pipette.Thus, for making the volume of the reaction tank 10 into a precise fixedvalue, important are the size of the circular through hole 11 in thedisk body 2, which constitutes the reaction tank 10, and the attachmentprecision of the window plates 5 and 6 adhered onto the front and rearsides of the disk body 2. In the case of producing, for example, thereaction tank 10 having a volume of 50 μL, the window plates 5 and 6 areadhered onto the disk body 2 having the circular through hole 11 havinga diameter of 8 mm, and having a thickness of 1 mm. Since the disk body2 is formed by injection molding, variation between lots can be reduced.In the step of adhering the window plates 5 and 6 onto the front andrear surfaces of the disk body 2, respectively, an accidental error of10 μm may be generated on any one of the two surface sides; in thiscase, the total thereof is 20 μm, so that a volume accidental error of2% is generated. In short, the adhesion precision of the window plates 5and 6 affects the volume accidental error of the reaction tank 10.

As illustrated in FIG. 13, in order to improve the adhesion precision ofthe window plates 5 and 6, circular ribs 33 and 34 are formed on thefront and rear surfaces of the disk body 2, respectively, and around thecircular through hole 10. When a laser melt-bonding device is used tomelt-bond the window plates 5 and 6 onto the disk body 2, a melt-bondingreceiving object wherein the window plates 5 and 6 are arranged onto thefront and rear surfaces of the disk body 2, respectively, is set onto atable which can be vertically shifted and is arranged under a glassplate of the laser melt-bonding device. While the table is elevated topush the melt-bonding receiving object onto the lower surface of theglass plate, a laser ray is radiated onto the melt-bonding receivingobject from above the glass plate. When the laser ray is radiated, thefront surface side window plate 5 and the front surface of the disk body2 are melted so that these members are melt-bonded. At this time, thelaser ray is radiated onto the circular rib 33 on the front surface sideand the pushing force of the melt-bonding receiving object onto theglass plate is controlled, thereby making it possible to control theamount of the circular rib 33 to be melted and squashed. After the frontsurface side window plate 5 and the front surface of the disk body 2 aremelt-bonded to each other, the melt-bonding receiving object isoverturned so that the circular rib 34 is positioned on the frontsurface side. Thereafter, according to the same procedure, the lasermelt-bonding device is used to melt-bond the rear surface side windowplate 6 onto the disk body 2 while the amount of the circular rib 34 tobe melted and squashed is controlled. This melt-bonding operation makesit possible to control the distance between the front surface sidewindow plate 5 and the rear surface side window plate 6 to a precisefixed value. As a result, it is possible to make consistent the volumeof the reaction tank 10 formed by sealing up the circular through hole11 in the disk body 2 with the front and rear surface side window plates5 and 6.

(7) In the cell 3 formed in the disk body 2 in the embodiment, the rearsurface side window plate 6 having the same dimension as the frontsurface side window plate is adhered onto the rear surface of the diskbody 2 as illustrated in FIG. 14. However, the invention is not limitedto this embodiment. The rear surface of the disk body 2 does not haveany groove for forming a narrow tube; as illustrated in FIG. 15,therefore, a window plate divided into a window plate 6 a for reservoirand a window plate 6 b for reaction tank may be adhered onto the rearsurface of the disk body 2. In FIG. 15, reference numbers 35 and 36represent a region where the window plate 6 a for reservoir and the diskbody 2 are melt-bonded to each other, and a region where the windowplate 6 b for reaction tank and the disk body 2 are melt-bonded to eachother, respectively. In a configuration wherein circular ribs are formedin the front and rear surfaces of a disk body and around a circularthrough hole and the circular ribs are squashed to melt-bond windowplates onto the disk body as has been illustrated in FIG. 13, thedivision (of its window plate) into a window plate 6 a for reservoir anda window plate 6 b for reaction tank makes the volume precision of itsreaction tank 10 still better since the control of the amount to besquashed becomes easy. With regard to the melt-bonding operation in thiscase, it is preferred to melt-bond the reaction tank window plate 6 binitially onto the rear surface of the disk body 2, and subsequentlymelt-bond the reservoir window plate 6 a onto the rear surface of thedisk body 2.

In the clinical examination disk according to the embodiment, the diskbody may be subjected, at the following regions thereof, tohydrophilicity-imparting treatment: the inner surface of the circularthrough hole for forming each of the reaction tanks; and the grooveinner surfaces for making the narrow tubes. Examples of thehydrophilicity-imparting treatment include plasma treatment, excimer UVtreatment, UV treatment, the painting of a hydrophilic polymer, thepainting of a surfactant, and the immobilization of protein molecules.

As illustrated in FIGS. 16, 17A, 17B and 17C, in another clinicalexamination disk according to the embodiment, for example, its two cells(a specimen examining cell 3 and a calibrating cell 4) may be arrangedto be attached to a disk body 2 and detached therefrom. FIG. 16 is anexploded perspective view of this clinical examination disk of theembodiment.

FIG. 17A is a plan view of a region of the specimen examining cell 3arranged in the disk, FIG. 17B is a sectional view thereof taken alongline B-B in FIG. 17A, and FIG. 17C is a sectional view thereof takenalong line C-C in FIG. 17A.

The clinical examination disk 1 includes the disk body 2 in a disk form.In the disk body 2, for example, two rectangular grooves 37 and 38 forholding cells are formed centrosymmetrically with respect to asupporting hole 16. The disk body 2 has, for example, the followingdimensions: a thickness of 1 mm, and a diameter of 120 mm. The disk body2 is formed by injection-molding, for example, a black synthetic resinas described above. The disk body 2 may be made of colored glass. Thespecimen examining cell 3 and the calibrating cell 4 are arranged to beattachable to the rectangular grooves 37 and 38 in the disk body 2,respectively, and detachable therefrom, respectively.

As illustrated in FIGS. 17B and 17C, the specimen examining cell 3 iscomposed of a cell body 39, and rectangular front and rear surface sidewindow plates 5 and 6 which have the same dimension and are adhered tothe front and rear surfaces of the cell body 39, respectively, so as tobe opposite to each other. The cell body 39 is formed byinjection-molding, for example, a synthetic resin, such as blackpolyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, ABS, acrylic resin,polycarbonate, cycloolefin, or POM. A rectangular specimen reservoir 7is formed by sealing up a rectangular through hole 8 made open in thecell body 39 with the front and rear surface side window plates 5 and 6.A specimen injecting port 9 is made open in a region of the frontsurface side window plate 5 which corresponds to the rectangular throughhole 8. A circular reaction tank 10 is formed by sealing up, with thefront and rear surface side window plates 4 and 5, a circular throughhole 11 made open in the cell body 39 and positioned nearer to the outercircumference than a position of the specimen reservoir 7. In thereaction tank 10, a gelatinized reagent is beforehand held. A firstnarrow tube 12 is formed by covering, with the front surface side windowplate 5, a groove 13 formed in the front surface of the cell body 39 andpositioned between the rectangular through hole 8 and the circularthrough hole 11. A second narrow tube 14 is formed by covering, with thefront surface side window plate 5, a groove 15 made in the cell body 39so as to be extended from the circular through hole 11 toward the centerof the disk body 2. An end of the groove 15 at the side thereof oppositeto the circular through hole 11 is extended up to a position just beforea step 40 of a cell body 39 side face positioned at the center(supporting hole 16) side of the disk body 2. In other words, in thestate that the cell 3 is inserted and arranged in the rectangular groove37 in the disk body 2, the end of the groove 15 is made open in thevertical wall of the step 40 to form an air escaping port in thereaction tank 10.

In the same manner as the specimen examining cell 3, the calibratingcell 4 is provided with a reservoir 7 composed of a cell body and frontand rear surface side window plates, a reaction tank 10 wherein agelatinized reagent is beforehand held, and first and second narrowtubes 12 and 14. In the reservoir 7 of the calibrating cell 4, acalibrating standard sample gelatinized is beforehand held. The sampleis liquefied when the temperature of the disk 1 is returned to roomtemperature.

With regard to the clinical examination disk 1, wherein the specimenexamining cell 3 and the calibrating cell 4 are arranged in therectangular grooves 37 and 38 in the disk body 2, respectively, in thismanner so as to be attachable thereto and detachable therefrom, after anexamination of a specimen by use of the cells 3 and 4, only the cells 3and 4 can be discarded and the disk body 2 can be reused. In otherwords, with regard to the clinical examination disk 1 illustrated inFIG. 1, wherein the cells 3 and 4 are attached to the disk body 2 so asto be integrated with the body 2, after an examination of a specimen byuse of the cells 3 and 4, the whole of the disk body 2, that is, thedisk 1 itself is discarded; thus, costs can be made lower according tothe clinical examination disk 1 illustrated in FIGS. 16, 17A, 17B and17C than according to the clinical examination disk 1 illustrated inFIG. 1.

Since the reagent gelatinized in advance is held in each of the reactiontanks 10, some container which contains this reagent is refrigerated andstored in, for example, a refrigerator. With regard to the clinicalexamination disk 1 illustrated in FIG. 1, the disk 1 itself is stored inthe refrigerator. By contrast, with regard to the clinical examinationdisk 1 illustrated in FIGS. 16, 17A, 17B and 17C, only the cells 3 and 4need to be stored in the refrigerator. Thus, it is possible to savespace.

In the configuration wherein the cells can be arranged in the disk bodyto be attachable thereto and detachable therefrom, the cells are notlimited to the structure illustrated in FIGS. 16, 17A, 17B and 17C. Thecells may each be made into the structure illustrated in each of FIGS.5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10.

In the clinical examination disk illustrated in FIGS. 16, 17A, 17B and17C, the cell body may be subjected, at the following regions thereof,to hydrophilicity-imparting treatment: the inner surface of the circularthrough hole for forming each of the reaction tanks; and the grooveinner surfaces for making the narrow tubes. Examples of thehydrophilicity-imparting treatment include plasma treatment, excimer UVtreatment, UV treatment, the painting of a hydrophilic polymer, thepainting of a surfactant, and the immobilization of protein molecules.

With reference to FIG. 18, the following will describe a disk packageaccording to the embodiment.

The disk package according to the embodiment is composed of a bag 41, asmall bag 42 held in this bag 41, a clinical examination disk 1 held inthe small bag 42, a resin plate 43 which is held in the bag 41 andsupports the small bag 42, and a humidity adjusting agent 44 held in thebag 41. The bag 41 is air-tightly sealed up by sealing an openingtherein thermally after the small bag 42, the resin plate 43 and thehumidity adjusting agent 44 are held therein.

The bag 41 is made of, for example, an aluminum-laminated film includingthermally melt-bondable resin films laminated onto both sides of analuminum foil piece, respectively, and a rigid resin film.

The small bag 42 is made of a resin film made of, for example,polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene, polypropylene orpolystyrene.

The clinical examination disk 1 held in the small bag 42 may be the diskillustrated in FIG. 1, wherein the cells are integrated with the diskbody, the disk having the cell structure in each of FIGS. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9and 10, or the disk illustrated in FIGS. 16, 17A, 17B and 17C, whereinthe cells can be arranged in the disk body to be attachable thereto anddetachable therefrom. The humidity adjusting agent may be, for example,sodium polyacrylate, or silica gel.

When the disk package having this structure is refrigerated and stored,the humidity in the bag 41 reaches about 100% by the cooling and theeffect of the humidity adjusting agent 44. As a result, the gelatinizedreagent held beforehand in each of the reaction tanks is prevented frombeing dried when the package is stored.

With regard to the embodiment, several cases where blood is used as aspecimen have been described; however, the present invention may be usedfor all biological samples, such as bone marrow, blood serum, urine, andabdominal dropsy.

With reference to some of the drawings, the following will describe aclinical examination device according to the embodiment in detail.

FIG. 19 is a schematic perspective view illustrating the clinicalexamination device according to the embodiment, FIG. 20 is a sectionalview of the clinical examination device in FIG. 19, and FIG. 21 is asectional view of a main portion of the clinical examination device inFIG. 19.

As illustrated in FIG. 19, the clinical examination device according tothe embodiment has a structure similar to a front-loading type opticaldisk driver. An outer packaging member 71 is composed of a bottom plate71 a, a top plate 71 b, and four side walls 71 c, and has therein arectangular space 72. A case 73 is arranged in the rectangular space 72inside the outer packaging member 71, and fixed on legs 74 placed insidethe outer packaging member 71 and on the bottom plate 71 a. The case 73is composed of a bottom plate 73 a, an upper wall 73 b, and four sidewalls 73 c, and has therein a chamber 75. Passage holes 76 and 77 aremade open in one of the side walls 71 c of the outer packaging member 71and one of the side walls 73 c of the case 73, respectively, the twoside walls being opposite to each other. A tray that can be reciprocatedin the horizontal direction and will be described later is passedthrough the passage holes 76 and 77 to be put into the case and takenout therefrom. A shutter 78 is fitted to the inner surface of the sidewall 71 c of the outer packaging member 71 to be movable in the verticaldirection, thereby opening and closing the passage holes 76 and 77.

Four cylinders 80 each having a piston 79 movable in the verticaldirection are vertically set so as to position on the bottom plate 73 aand at corners of the rectangle thereof inside the chamber 75. Foursupporting axes 82 around each of which a coil spring 81 is wound areconnected onto the pistons 7, respectively. A disk-form base plate 84wherein a hole 83 is made open at the center thereof is fixed onto thetops of the four supporting axes 82. A first ringed packing 85 is fittedto the upper surface of the base plate 84 to surround the hole 83therein. Pins 86, the number of which is, for example, 4, are located onthe upper surface of the base plate 84 and outside the first ringedpacking 85. The individual pins 86 each function as a pushing-up memberfor pushing up a ringed packing, this packing being inserted into thetray, which will be described later, so as to be movable in the verticaldirection. A disk-form motor-placing plate 87 is arranged under the baseplate 84 and connected to the lower surface of the base plate 84 throughvibration-proof rubber members 88. A second ringed packing 89 is fixedbetween the base plate 84 and the motor-placing plate 87 so as toposition inside the vibration-proof rubber members 88. The cylinders 80,the supporting axes 82, the base plates 84, the motor-placing plate 87and other members constitute a linearly-acting unit.

In the linearly-acting unit having this structure, the pistons 79 of thecylinders 80 are raised. Thus, the supporting axes 82 connected to theindividual pistons 79 are also raised. By the raise of these supportingaxes 82, the base plate 84 fixed onto the individual supporting axes 82is raised so that the motor-placing plate 87 connected to the base plate84 is also raised. When the pistons 79 of the cylinders 80 are lowered,the motor-placing plate 87 together with the base plate 84 is lowered bythe above-mentioned connecting structure.

A motor 91 having a rotating axis 90 extended upward is passed throughthe hole 83 in the base plate 84 so as to be fixed on the motor-placingplate 87 and at the center thereof. A disk-placing circular plate 92 ishorizontally fixed onto the upper end of the rotating axis 90. Acolumnar body 93 fittable into the supporting hole 16 at the center ofthe clinical examination disk 1 is fixed onto the disk-placing circularplate 92 so as to be concentric with the rotating axis 90. The motor 91having this rotating axis 90, the disk-placing circular plate 92, andthe columnar body 93 constitute a rotating means.

A tray 94 is put through the passage holes 77 and 76 into a chamber 75region between the base plate 84 and the upper wall 73 b of the case 73,and taken out therefrom by means of a loading/unloading mechanism (notillustrated) arranged inside the chamber 75 of the case 73. The tray 94is made of, for example, aluminum (or copper), which has a high thermalconductivity. The tray 94 is in a disk form, and therein a circularconcave 95 is made concentrically therewith. A hole 96 having such asize that the disk-placing circular plate 92 connected to the rotatingaxis 90 can be inserted into the hole 96 is made open in the circularconcave 95 and at the center thereof. In a tray 94 region outside thecircular concave 95, a ringed hole 98 is made open which has at theupside thereof a step 97. A thick third ringed packing 100 having at theupside thereof a flange 99 is inserted into the ringed hole 98, and theflange 99 is engaged with the step 97 of the ringed hole 98, whereby thepacking 100 is inserted therein to be vertically movable.

A hole 101 is made open in the upper wall 73 b of the case 73 to beopposite to the disk-placing circular plate 92. A clamper 102 made of amagnet in an overturned-cap form is inserted into the hole 101 in theupper wall 73 b from above. When the columnar body 93 on thedisk-placing circular plate 92 is fitted into the supporting hole 16 inthe disk 1, the magnetic clamper 102 is magnetically coupled with thecolumnar body 93 to be combined with the disk-placing circular plate 92,thereby sandwiching the disk 1 therebetween. An upper-region-closingcylindrical cover 103 is fixed onto the outer surface of the upper wall73 b with a fourth disk-form packing 104 interposed therebetween, so asto cover the clamper 102.

As illustrated in FIG. 21, a first thin-film heater unit 105 is arrangedon a lower surface region of the tray 94 in which the circular concave95 is positioned. In the state that the tray 94 is in a posture keptwhen the tray 94 is put into the case, the first thin-film heater unit105 is set to a (tray) region except a circular region of the tray 94lower surface that is extended toward the center from a base plate 84region which contacts the first ringed packing 85. The first thin-filmheater unit 105 is provided with a heat-radiating sheet 106 attachedfrom the lower surface side of the tray 94, a film heater 107, and analuminum plate 108 as a rear plate. The heat-radiating sheet 106 is madeof, for example, an acrylic gel. The heat-radiating sheet 106 transmitsheat from the film heater 107 evenly to the lower surface of the tray94. A temperature sensor 109 is inserted into a hole made open to beextended over the aluminum plate 108 and the film heater 107, and iscovered with a resin cover 110 adhered onto the aluminum plate 108. Thetemperature sensor 109 may be, for example, a thermocouple, or Pt100.The temperature of the film heater 107 is monitored with the temperaturesensor 109. The monitor result is fed back to a temperature controllernot illustrated so that the temperature of the film heater 107 iscontrolled.

A second thin-film heater unit 111 is set onto the inner surface of theupper wall 73 b of the case 73 so as to be opposite to the firstthin-film heater unit 105. The second thin-film heater unit 111 isprovided with a film heater 112 adhered from the inner surface of theupper wall 73 b, a heat-radiating sheet 113 and an aluminum plate 114.The heat-radiating sheet 113 is made of, for example, an acrylic gel.The heat-radiating sheet 113 transmits heat from the film heater 112evenly to the aluminum plate 114 as an evenly heating plate. Atemperature sensor 115 is inserted into a hole made open to be extendedover the upper wall 73 b and the film heater 112, and is covered with aresin cover 116 adhered onto the outer surface of the upper wall 73 b.The temperature sensor 115 may be, for example, a thermocouple, orPt100. The temperature of the film heater 112 is monitored with thetemperature sensor 115. The monitor result is fed back to thetemperature controller not illustrated so that the temperature of thefilm heater 112 is controlled.

In the same manner as the examination device in FIG. 3, the presentdevice is provided with an excited light radiating unit 55 composed ofan N₂ laser instrument 56 fixed onto the upper wall 73 b of the case 73and a mirror 57 for guiding a laser ray emitted from this N₂ laserinstrument 56 to a reactant in each of the reaction tank of the cells inthe disk 1. Out of the two fluorescence receiving units, one, 58 a iscomposed of a relay lens (not illustrated), an interfering filter (notillustrated), a photoelectron multiplier tube 61 a arranged on the upperwall 73 b of the case 73, these members being arranged successivelyupward from the vicinity of the upper wall 73 b. The other fluorescencereceiving unit 58 b (at the downside) is composed of a relay lens (notillustrated), an interfering filter (not illustrated), a photoelectronmultiplier tube 61 b fitted onto the motor-placing plate 87, thesemembers being arranged successively downward. Adisk-rotation-number-detecting photo-interrupter 62 is composed of alight emitting element 63 arranged on the upper wall 73 b of the case73, and a light receiving element 64 arranged on the motor-placing plate87. A timing-detecting photo-interrupter 65 is composed of a lightemitting element 66 arranged on the upper wall 73 b of the case 73, anda light receiving element 67 arranged on the motor-placing plate 87.

The following will describe the effect of the clinical examinationdevice with reference to FIGS. 19, 20, 22 and 23.

Prepared is the clinical examination disk 1, which has the cells 3 and 4each having the specimen reservoirs, the reaction tanks, and the firstand second narrow tubes (each not illustrated) having at the center thesupporting hole 16. A gelatinized reagent is beforehand held in each ofthe reaction tanks. A specimen (for example, a blood) is injected intothe specimen reservoir in each of the cells 3 and 4 of the disk 1. Theshutter 78 is used to open the passage holes 76 and 77. As illustratedin FIG. 19, the tray 94 is then taken out from the outer packagingmember 71, and the disk 1 is put onto the circular concave 95 thereof.As illustrated in FIG. 22, the pistons 79 of the cylinders 80 of thelinearly-acting unit are lowered. As described above, according to thismethod, the motor-placing plate 87 is lowered together with the baseplate 84, and the motor 91 fixed on the motor-placing plate 87 islowered so that the disk-placing circular plate 92 on the upper end ofthe rotating axis 90 thereof and the columnar body 93 on thedisk-placing circular plate 92 are also lowered. By this operation, therotating axis 90 of the motor 91, the disk-placing circular plate 92,and the columnar body 93 are retreated from a region into which the tray94 is carried, so that the region becomes able to receive the tray 94.Through the loading/unloading mechanism (not illustrated), the tray 94is taken through the passage holes 76 and 77 into the chamber 75 regionbetween the base plate 84 and the upper wall 73 b of the case 73. Whenthe taking-in of the tray 94 is finished, the supporting hole 16 in thedisk 1 put on the tray 94 is positioned just above the columnar body 93connected to the motor 91 as illustrated in FIG. 23.

The shutter 78 is used to close the passage holes 76 and 77, and thenthe pistons 79 of the cylinders 80 of the linearly-acting unit areraised. As descried above, the motor-placing plate 87 is raised togetherwith the base plate 84. By the raise of the motor-placing plate 87, themotor 91 on the motor-placing plate 87 is raised as illustrated in FIG.19, so that the disk-placing circular plate 92 on the upper end of therotating axis 90 is passed through the hole 96 made open at the centerof the circular concave 95 in the tray 94. The disk-placing circularplate 92 is brought into contact with the lower surface of the disk 1put on the tray 94, so as to push up the disk 1, and further thecolumnar body 93 of the disk-placing circular plate 92 is inserted intothe supporting hole 16 in the disk 1. The disk-placing circular plate 92is further raised so that the disk 1 is brought into contact with thelower surface of the magnetic clamper 102 inserted in the hole 101 inthe upper wall 73 b of the case 73. Following this, the clamper 102 ismagnetically coupled with the columnar body 93 by the magnetic forcethereof. In other words, the disk 1 is sandwiched between the magneticclamper 102 and the disk-placing circular plate 92, which are positionedabove and below, respectively, so as to' be fixed onto the disk-placingcircular plate 92. Simultaneously, following the raise of the base plate84, the pins 86 thereon are brought into contact with the lower surfaceof the third ringed packing 100 inserted in the ringed hole 98 in thetray 94 to be vertically movable. Following this, the third ringedpacking 100 is held upward so that the upper end thereof is brought intocontact with the inner surface of the upper wall 73 b of the case 73.Following the raise of the base plate 84, the first ringed packing 85inside the pins 86 on the base plate 84 is brought into contact with thelower surface of the tray 94.

By this operation, the disk 1 is set onto the disk-placing circularplate 92 of the rotating axis 90 of the motor 91. After the disk 1 isset, an electric current is passed through the film heater 107 of thefirst thin-film heater unit 105. Heat from the film heater 107 istransmitted through the heat radiating sheet 106 to the tray 94 made ofaluminum so that the disk 1, positioned in the chamber 75 region betweenthe tray 94 and the upper wall 73 b, is heated from below.Simultaneously, an electrical current is passed through the film heater112 of the second thin-film heater unit 111 on the inner surface of theupper wall 73 b of the case 73. Heat from the film heater 112 istransmitted through the heat radiating sheet 113 and the aluminum plate114 to heat the disk 1, positioned in the chamber 75 region between thetray 94 and the upper wall 73 b of the case 73, from above.

After the setting of the disk 1 onto the disk-placing circular plate 92and the heating of the disk 1 by effect of the first and secondthin-film heater units 105 and 111, the rotating axis 90 of the motor 91is rotated at a high speed. At this time, the disk 1 sandwiched betweenthe disk-placing circular plate 92 of the rotating axis 90 and themagnetic clamper 102 is rotated at a high speed so that blood plasmaseparated by the centrifugation as described above, in the cell 3 of thedisk 1, is sent into the reaction tank thereof. Thus, the blood plasmais caused to react with the liquefied reagent therein. Thereafter, in amanner equivalent to that for analyzing the blood by use of the disk,the concentration of, for example, a target substance in the bloodplasma is measured by use of the excited-light-radiating unit 55, thepaired fluorescence receiving units 58 a and 58 b, thedisk-rotation-number-detecting photo-interrupter 62, and thetiming-detecting photo-interrupter 65.

In the clinical examination device having this structure, the upper endof the third ringed packing 100 pushed up by the pins 86 is brought intocontact with the inner surface of the upper wall 73 b of the case 73,thereby causing the air to flow to the outermost region with thehigh-speed rotation of the disk 1. Thus, the gap between the upper wall73 b of the case 73 and the tray 94, in which air is to be taken in fromthe outside, can be shut out. That is to say, the chamber 75 regionbetween the tray 94 and the upper wall 73 b of the case 73, which is aspace for arranging the disk 1, can be made into an airtight state. As aresult, the generation of air flow in the chamber 75 region, whichfollows the high-speed rotation of the disk 1, is restrained so that thecooling of the disk 1 can be restrained. Therefore, it becomes possibleto control precisely the temperature of the reaction between the bloodplasma and the reagent in the reaction tank of the cell 3 of the disk 1heated by effect of the first and second thin-film heater units 105 and111. The precise control of the reaction temperature makes it possiblethat the gelatinized reagent in the reagent reservoir formed in the cell3 of the disk 1 is evenly liquefied before the reaction.

The first ringed packing 85 is arranged on the base plate 84 and insidethe positions of the pins 86. When the base plate 84 is raised, thefirst ringed packing 85 is brought into contact with the lower surfaceof the tray 94. Thus, the gap between the base plate 84 and the tray 94is blocked with the first ringed packing 85. This makes it possible tokeep, at a higher-level airtight state, the chamber 75 region, which isa space for arranging the disk 1, between the tray 94 and the upper wall73 b of the case 73. As a result, at the time of rotating the disk 1 ata high speed, a more precise control can be attained over thetemperature of the reaction between the blood plasma and the reagent inthe reaction tank of the cell 3 of the disk 1.

The second ringed packing 89 is interposed between the base plate 84 andthe motor-placing plate 87 to block the gap between the base plate 84and the motor-placing plate 87. It is therefore possible to keep, at ahigher-level airtight state, the chamber 75 region, which is a space forarranging the disk 1, between the tray 94 and the upper wall 73 b of thecase 73. As a result, at the time of rotating the disk 1 at a highspeed, a still more precise control can be attained over the temperatureof the reaction between the blood plasma and the reagent in the reactiontank of the cell 3 of the disk 1.

In the structure wherein the disk 1 is sandwiched between thedisk-placing circular plate 92 and the magnetic clamper 102, theupper-region-closing cylindrical cover 103 is fixed onto the outersurface of the upper wall 73 b of the case 73 with the fourth disk-formpacking 104 interposed therebetween, so as to cover the clamper 102.Thus, the gap between the clamper 102 and the hole 29 in the upper wall73 b of the case 73 is blocked from the outside. It is thereforepossible to keep, at a higher-level airtight state, the chamber 75region, which is a space for arranging the disk 1, between the tray 94and the upper wall 73 b of the case 73. As a result, at the time ofrotating the disk 1 at a high speed, a still more precise control can beattained over the temperature of the reaction between the blood plasmaand the reagent in the reaction tank of the cell 3 of the disk 1.

Accordingly, the clinical examination device according to the embodimentmakes it possible to control the temperature of the reaction between theblood plasma and the reagent precisely in the cell 3 of the disk 1rotated at a high speed. Thus, a blood examination high inreproducibility can be attained.

The third ringed packing 100 is inserted into the ringed hole 98 in thetray 94 to be vertically movable; thus, the third ringed packing 100 ispushed up by the pins 86 on the raised base plate 84 so as to be broughtinto contact with the inner surface of the upper wall 73 b of the case73 only when the disk 1 is rotated at a high speed. When not rotated, inthe step of taking in or taking out the tray 94, the third ringedpacking 100 is lowered as illustrated in FIGS. 23 and 24, so that apredetermined distance is kept between the packing 100 and the upperwall 73 b of the case 73. In short, the upper end of the third ringedpacking 100 does not contact the inner surface of the upper wall 73 b.As a result, when the tray 94 is taken in or taken out by means of theloading/unloading mechanism, the upper end of the third ringed packing100 can be prevented from being slid on the upper wall 73 b to be wornoff in a short period.

The clinical examination device according to the embodiment is made intoa structure wherein the third ringed packing fitted to the tray ispushed up by the pins arranged vertically in the base plate. It isallowable that instead of the pins, for example, a ringed projection isattached onto the base plate and the third ringed packing of the tray ispushed up by this ringed projection. The ringed projection functions asa member for pushing the third ringed packing, and further makes itpossible to block the gap between the base plate and the tray. As aresult, it is possible to omit the first ringed packing set on the baseplate to block the gap between the base plate and the tray.

In the clinical examination device according to the embodiment, thethin-film heater units for heating the disk are arranged onto the traylower surface and the upper wall inner surface of the case,respectively. However, a thin-film heater unit may be arranged onto anyone of the tray lower surface and the upper wall inner surface of thecase. In other words, the disk is made of a thin synthetic resin, sothat the whole of the disk can be heated when a thin-film heater unit isarranged onto any one of the tray lower surface and the upper wall innersurface of the case.

In the clinical examination device according to the embodiment, thelinearly-acting unit is not limited to a structure including cylindershaving four pistons which are each independently vertically movable. Forexample, it is allowable to fix, onto the inner surface of the bottomplate of the case, two linearly-acting mechanisms each provided with aslider having a cam groove, a lifting-up blanket to which a cam followerengaged with a cam groove is horizontally linked, and two pistonslocated vertically onto this blanket.

1. A clinical examination disk, comprising a disk body in a disk form,and at least one cell formed in the disk body, wherein the cellcomprises: a specimen reservoir formed in the disk body and having aspecimen injecting port; a reaction tank formed in the disk body so asto position nearer to the outer circumference of the body than aposition of the specimen reservoir, and holding a reagent which isreactive with the specimen and is beforehand gelatinized; a first narrowtube formed in the disk body, and communicating to the specimenreservoir and the reaction tank; and a second narrow tube formed in thedisk body, and having one end connected to the reaction tank and theother end made open.
 2. The clinical examination disk according to claim1, wherein the gelatinized reagent is obtained by introducing a reagentin which a gelatinizer is added into the reaction tank, and gelatinizingthe agent at a refrigerating temperature.
 3. The clinical examinationdisk according to claim 2, wherein the gelatinizer is at least oneselected from the group consisting of gelatin, sodium alginate,carrageenan and pectin.
 4. The clinical examination disk according toclaim 1, wherein the cells are two or more cells formed in the diskbody, and the specimen reservoir in at least one of these cells holds astandard sample for calibration.
 5. The clinical examination diskaccording to claim 1, wherein the cell further comprises a firstoverflow tank formed in the disk body so as to position nearer to theouter circumference of the disk body than the specimen reservoir, and athird narrow tube branched from the first narrow tube and having a tipconnected to the first overflow tank.
 6. The clinical examination diskaccording to claim 1, wherein the cell further comprises a buffer tankand an air trap formed in the disk body between the specimen reservoirand the reaction tank, and a fourth narrow tube formed in the disk body,one end of the tube being connected to the buffer tank, and the otherend thereof being made open, the buffer tank and the air trap arearranged in the order described herein from the vicinity of the specimenreservoir toward the reaction tank, and the specimen reservoir isconnected to the reaction tank by passing the first narrow tube from thespecimen reservoir through a position between the buffer tank and theair tap, and then through a position between the air trap and thereaction tank.
 7. The clinical examination disk according to claim 5,wherein the cell further comprises: a second overflow tank which isformed in the disk body so as to adjoin to along the circumferentialdirection of the disk body from the specimen reservoir as a startingpoint; a fifth narrow tube having one end connected to the specimenreservoir so as to position at a position which is nearer to the centerof the disk body than the connection position of the first narrow tubeconnected to the specimen reservoir, and having the other end connectedto the second overflow tank; and a sixth narrow tube having one endextended to the second overflow tank and the other end extended to thedisk body outside the cell.
 8. The clinical examination disk accordingto claim 1, wherein the specimen reservoir and the reaction tankconstitutes a reservoir-forming hole and a reaction-tank-forming holewhich are made open in the disk body, respectively, a first window plateformed onto the front surface of the disk body so as to cover thereservoir-forming hole and the reaction-tank-forming hole, and a secondwindow plate formed onto the rear surface of the disk body so as tocover the reservoir-forming hole and the reaction-tank-forming hole,wherein the first and second window plates are melt-bonded to a circularrib projected from the front and rear surfaces of the disk body, and thecircular rib is projected at least from front and rear surface regionsof the disk body around the reaction-tank-forming hole so as to beintegrated with the surface regions.
 9. The clinical examination diskaccording to claim 1, wherein the cell further comprises a reagentreservoir formed in the disk body so as to position nearer to the centerof the disk than the reaction tank, and a fifth narrow tube formed inthe disk body in order to connect the reaction tank and the reagentreservoir to each other, wherein before an examination, a reagent addeda gelatinizer in the reagent reservoir is introduced through the fifthnarrow tube into the reaction tank, and the reagent is gelatinized at arefrigerating temperature so that the reagent gelatinized beforehand isheld in the reaction tank.
 10. The clinical examination disk accordingto claim 1, wherein the cell further comprises a peeling mount arrangedto cover the specimen injecting port in the specimen reservoir, and anadhesive tape bonded so as to extend from the peeling mount to the diskbody and configured to fix the peeling mount to the disk body.
 11. Theclinical examination disk according to claim 1, wherein the cell isarranged to be attachable to the disk body and detachable therefrom. 12.A disk pack, comprising a moisture-proof bag, a clinical examinationdisk as recited in claim 1 that is air-tightly held in the bag, and amoisture-adjusting agent held, together with the clinical examinationdisk, in the bag.
 13. A clinical examination device, comprising: anouter packaging member; a case arranged in the outer packaging memberand having a chamber inside the case; a linearly-acting unit comprisinga base plate arranged in the chamber of the case to be verticallymovable; a passage hole made open a portion which is extended from anupside portion of a side wall of the case to a side wall of the outerpackaging member; a tray which is capable of putting into the chamberthrough the passage hole and taking out the chamber through the passagehole, and having a circular concave onto which a clinical examinationdisk as recited in claim 1 is placed; and a rotating unit fixed to thelinearly-acting unit to cause the disk to be rotated, wherein the traycomprises a ringed hole made open in a ringed region around the outercircumference of the circular concave, and a ringed packing fixed to theringed hole to be vertically movable, the base plate comprises, on anupper surface thereof, a pushing-up member to push up the ringedpacking, and a thin-film heater unit is formed on at least one of theinner surface of an upper wall of the case and a lower surface of thetray.
 14. The clinical examination device according to claim 13, whereinthe pushing-up member in which the base plate forms on the upper surfacethereof is a ringed projection.
 15. The clinical examination deviceaccording to claim 13, wherein the pushing-up member in which the baseplate forms on the upper surface thereof is a plurality of pins.
 16. Theclinical examination device according to claim 13, wherein the rotatingmeans comprises a motor having a rotating axis, and a disk-placing plateattached to the upper end of the rotating axis.
 17. The clinicalexamination device according to claim 13, which further comprisesanother ringed packing formed inside the pushing-up member on the baseplate.
 18. The clinical examination device according to claim 16, whichfurther comprises a clamper set to the upper wall of the case so as tohold the disk accompanied with the disk-placing plate of the motor, acover attached to the upper wall so as to cover the clamper, and apacking interposed between the clamper and the cover.
 19. The clinicalexamination device according to claim 16, wherein the linearly-actingunit further comprises a motor-placing plate hung under the base plateto fix the motor, and another ringed packing is interposed between themotor-placing plate and the base plate such as to surround the motor.